Media Studies was winding down and students were ready for the bell to ring. Books were in backpacks, students chatted about off-topic things, and some students had got up out of their seats, waiting by the door for the bell to ring. Like a wave getting close to shore, the cacophony of the classroom escalated just as the period came to end.

  Kay was finishing the last few questions on the assignment when he overheard chatter coming from a neighbouring table.

  “I thought you said that you didn’t believe it,” said Wyatt, a boy with shaggy blonde hair.

  He was talking to Sitara. Sitara, sitting with a notebook open in front of her, pushed up her glasses. “I don’t believe it. But nobody else is doing the hard research so I started investigating places where people have seen potential supernatural beings.”

  And what have we here? Kay thought to himself, leaning a little closer to the conversation.

  Ji-sun, hip-to-hip with Wyatt like she usually was, giggled. “You’re a real detective on this!”

  Sitara let out a proud smile. “Yes. Someone has to solve the mysteries of Toronto’s strange alleged ghosts.”

  “So have you found anything?” asked Wyatt. Maybe finding things was against the point. He rephrased: “Or... not found anything?”

  Sitara froze, then ducked her head in shame. “Uhhh... not yet.” She put a finger on her notebook. “But I’ve been doing some research about where the things pop up and I’ve been looking around–”

  The alarm blared.

  Wait, no! thought Kay, staring at Sitara with his eyes drowning in desperation.

  Sitara checked the clock and then closed up her book, rising from her seat. As Wyatt and Ji-sun walked towards the door, Sitara said to them. “Well, I’ve been working on it– let’s put it that way.”

  No! Kay screamed internally. Say where you’ve been looking! Where are the things!?

  If someone was investigating all the things in Toronto, surely the shadow man was on that list! What did Sitara know? What had she found? Kay had to find out more.

  He packed up his stuff and got up to follow behind Sitara. What was he going to do? Ask Sitara? It wouldn’t have been that strange for him to ask out of the blue but he didn’t want to risk associating himself with the supernatural in any way. He needed to keep the identity of Kay Norkemasis and the persona of Ghost Thing as far apart as he could.

  Uh, but the conversation was cut short! Valuable information was just lying there in Sitara’s head for Kay to borrow but nobody was going to ask. Could Kay get someone else to ask for him? No– that would be even more suspicious. Kay followed Sitara down the hall; a hall that Kay didn’t usually venture through. He had no need to walk that part of the building.

  Sitara didn’t notice. She held her notebook in front and walked down the hallway with her head held high. She was so proud. Was her research thorough? Was her results impressive? Kay had to know.

  The period had clicked from Media Studies into Lunch. Was Sitara going to have lunch? She went down to the first floor. As Kay quickly found out, it was for Sitara’s locker. Kay maintained his pursuit and when Sitara went to a locker to put away some things from her notebook, Kay had to stop stalking her so closely. Trying to look casual, he kept on walking past Sitara as she stopped at her spot, keeping with the flow of students walking the hallway. He kept an eye out on Sitara and turned a corner towards the entryway to spy on her from around the corner.

  Kay was looking very suspicious and he knew it. Trying his best to look like he was peeking past the wall, he watched Sitara as she chomped down a granola bar and closed her locker. She got up and kept walking and Kay had to follow her.

  It was a few minutes into the period change so the halls were clearing out as people got to where they needed to be. It was becoming more noticeable that Kay was trailing Sitara so he put a couple more metres between himself and the target.

  What was Kay supposed to do anyway? He could follow her all day but would she offer up the information Kay wanted? He had to stick with her, though. If she chatted about her findings once, she might have done it again.

  Sitara went to the first floor library. Kay took a couple seconds then went in after her. There were a lot of kids at computers and a bunch of people in the back tables around the bookshelves. Quiet chatted pervaded the room.

  With no delay, Sitara sat at one of the tables. Kay took a table in the back corner, taking a history book off of the shelves and brought it to his seat so he could look like he was researching. What was the book? What’s Wrong With the World

  Kay couldn’t see what Sitara was working on from across the room, but it was the same notebook she had in Media Studies– a composition notebook with a deep red cover– so he assumed she was going over her detective notes. How useful would it have been to get hold of that book? Or if he even grazed his eyes on it?

  The boy was sitting there, wondering how he could “borrow” that book from Sitara, when a couple guys walked up to her table, wearing smirks as sharp as knives. One guy Kay knew from a class he had last year: it was Henkley. At least Henkley was his last name.

  The other guy Nate crossed his arms, gaze down at Sitara like the hawk to the frog. “Working on your ghost-hunting?”

  Sitara narrowed her eyes as she rose them to the two boys. She had talked with them before, Kay figured. Sitara said, “It’s not ghost-hunting. If anything, it’s anti-ghost-hunting.”

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  “My cousin says he’s seen you around the city,” said Henkley. He crackled a sharp snicker. “What are you doing at Walter Saunders? Did that park have ghosts or something?”

  “No, that was, uh, a someone casting spells,” said Sitara, the annoyance voice being replaced with formality for a moment. “Or so they say.”

  “Didn’t you say you broke into that building where Ghost Thing and Shadow Man fought?” asked Nate.

  “I didn’t break into it.” Sitara sat up straight, puffing her chest proudly. “I entered the building like... anyone could!” She smirked. “Apparently I was trespassing when I went to the floor where the two alleged ghost people fought, but I didn’t see any signs up.”

  They were a bit loud, but not enough for any of the library staff to shush them. Some kids besides Kay were listening in, which was good since it made Kay less noteworthy for having his eyes and ears aimed over at Sitara and who two nuisances.

  “So did you see anything?” asked Henkley.

  Sitara sighed, dipping her head. “No...”

  Henkley raised a brow. “You know, for someone who’s trying to disprove that these things exist, you seem disappointed that you don’t find any ghosts or nothing.”

  “I’m looking for the truth,” said Sitara. “If Ghost Thing is real or not, or if Shadow Man is real or not, I’m only looking for the answer. I’m just skeptical.”

  The shadow man was brought up! Kay got excited. Was it time for Sitara to spill juicy secrets about the mysterious figure?

  Nate strutted around Sitara, his steps mocking the young investigator. “What are y’trying to be? The next X-Files?” He and Henkley shared a laugh.

  “Someone has to figure this out,” said Sitara, confidence draining from her voice. “Why couldn’t it be me?”

  “If you’re going to be spending all your time investigating crime scenes,” said Henkley, smile flaring back up, “you should at least get paid for it. Or... get an A in Science from it or something.”

  Kay cursed his luck. They were moving away from the topic at hand. He had to intervene. Kay got up, taking his book back to the shelves he got it and the boy moved down the books towards Sitara and her mockers. Kay kept a finger on the rows of tomes, hoping he looked like he was searching for some text.

  Henkley looked over Sitara’s notes. The scribblings of a child, to he. “So you’ve been tracking where people have seen Ghost Thing?”

  “Yeah,” said Sitara, feeling Henkley’s eyes judging her expert notes. “I tried getting into the loan agency at Sunrise but they wouldn’t let me in!”

  No! The conversation had drifted away from the shadow man and towards Ghost Thing. Kay didn’t need to hear about Ghost Thing; he was Ghost Thing! The string of chatter was zigging when it was meant to be zagging.

  “You’re a kid trying to break into places to do amateur research,” said Henkley. “They have police that handle that stuff.”

  “No, they don’t!” said Sitara, insulted at the assumption. “Nobody has any professional idea on how to research this sort of thing, which is why I’m trying to get in the ground floor!”

  For God’s sake, thought Kay, get back to the shadow guy!!

  “What are you going to do if you find something like a monster?” asked Henkley. He snickered. “Besides run away screaming?”

  “I’ll capture it!” said Sitara, “and then become famous for capturing the first... whatever.”

  Kay scrambled his brain for words to interject; anything that was a natural way to divert the conversation from Ghost Thing back to the shadow man and where he was seen. But he couldn’t come up with anything. Would you ask Sitara if she had seen the shadow man? That was too obvious. Kay’s hand twitched with anxiety and he had to hold his steps.

  “I’d like to see you try to capture a monster in a cage,” said Nate, taking one of Sitara’s sides.

  Sitara blew air and closed her book, cutting at Nate and Henkley with a gaze. “I could do it if I had to.”

  Henkley took the other side. “Or maybe you chat up Shadow Man and see what his deal is?”

  “If she could find him,” said Nate.

  Sitara gripped her pen, sneering at the two boys. “I’ve been looking, okay!?”

  “Where?”

  Apparently, someone wanted to join the debate. It was Kay, or ‘Rockstar’ as many students called him, the sunglasses-wearing loner stepping forth. Kay scratched the side of his neck nervously and then asked the question again: “Where have you been investigating?”

  Okay, thought Kay, that was a few words. No big deal.

  Sitara gave Kay the side-eye. After being just hounded by the two jerks winging her, she was a wary of a third person joining in. She took a breath in and exhaled, though, and said, “Around town. Past the zoo.”

  Past the zoo? Was that where the shadow man was based? Kay wanted to ask if that was where Sitara saw the shadow man, but he felt uncomfortable getting that specific. So he asked. “What’s the past the zoo?”

  Nate and Henkley listened in, wondering if Kay found Sitara as ridiculous as them, simmering their joy expecting Kay to drop a laugh on the silly girl.

  Sitara opened her notebook back up and flipped through some pages. “There’s been sightings. Uh... I asked around town and some people said it’s a ghost and some have said an alien. It’s a bright light thing.” She chuckled. “That means whatever it is, it must be good!”

  Not the shadow man. Kay had to suggest the conversation in that direction. He nodded quietly while he figured out how to lead the conversation.

  “Are you sure people aren’t messing with you?” asked Nate, his tone getting less vorpal and almost sounding like he had genuine concern for Sitara.

  “Well,” said Sitara, rolling her head confidently. “Sometimes I overhear people talk. I eavesdrop.”

  Kay of all people could see the value in that.

  “I haven’t heard of no light ghost alien past the zoo,” said Henkley. “What is that? Etobicoke? Swansea?”

  “Swansea,” said Sitara, gliding her finger down a page of her book. “I checked that place out the other day.” She rose her head. “There was another light thing in Wexdale but a lot of people are convinced that it’s not real so I haven’t been to that place yet. Actually, the last couple days I’ve been checking out Riverdale.”

  Could this be it? thought Kay. He kept himself calm and spoke. “What’s in Riverdale?” That sounded too presumptuous so he dialed it back. “What’s supposed to be in Riverdale?”

  “The shadow man has been seen around there,” said Sitara.

  Jackpot!

  Kay smiled. He knew he shouldn’t have but he couldn’t help it. At least for a few seconds. After a moment he got grip and relaxed his face. He said, “Oh? Around Riverdale?”

  Sitara nodded. “South Riverdale, actually; towards the shore. The guy has been seen around town, but...” Sitara looked over her notes some more. “He’s been seen a lot around there.” She chuckled. “People have been seeing someone around there for the last month or so but–” She flipped a page, looking down a chart of some kind– “it was after the news report that people confirmed that strange person hopping rooftops around Riverdale was the shadow man.”

  Oh goodness, Kay had hit the bullseye! That’s the info he needed. He kept his nerves in check and noticed Sitara grinning at him, like she expected him to want to join in the hunt. No, he would not. He would have to show disinterest.

  “Well, if you want to do that,” said Kay, “you go ahead. Honestly, it seems like trouble.”

  Kay took off in a brisk march to the door. He looked back at Sitara, looking a little peeved that another student had dismissed her efforts. It hurt to hurt Sitara like that but Kay sucked it up; he had to keep a cover story going.

  As he walked to the exit, Kay could hear Henkley and Nate’s snickers from across the room. It was a shame that people made fun of Sitara– the girl had made good work investigating the supernatural! That was a concern for another time, though. Kay now had information on where the gang might be located, and after school was done he would meet up with Philly to discuss his findings.